Essay On Symbolism In The Glass Menagerie

Improved Essays
Symbolism of The Glass Menagerie In Tennessee Williams’ play The Glass Menagerie, there is an abundance of symbolism that can be identified through careful analysis of the play write. The story is based around the Wingfield family. The daughter in the story is the central point of most of the symbolism. Laura, the daughter, has a collection of glass figurines in which the title of the play was named after. Within the glass collection there is a glass unicorn which holds a lot of symbolism and meaning behind it. The fire escape is the simplest, but most intriguing piece of symbolism. The Glass Menagerie has many symbolic objects throughout the play which can be analyzed further in detail. The title of the play is representational of

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    One lady, three husbands, and only one husband survives. Janie always thought of her life as a part of nature. Janie always pictured her life like a peach tree in leaf with things that suffered. Janie always knew there was dawn and doom within her branches. Janie was an orphan who was taken in by her grandmother, Janie’s nanny was her only family and wanted the absolute best for her.…

    • 1158 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    One day there was a girl named Belle, and she loved to read and always love taking selfies. The same day she came out her house and heard it was dance mob and everybody was doing the whip and nae nae. Then while she was walking she sees a man named Xavier, the selfish, bodybuilder that always drinks a lot of ale. Then his sidekick Josh, who does everything for him, and looks up to him starts making fun of Belle’s father. While Xavier tells Belle bad things about her father and his inventions, Belle immediately stands up for her dad.…

    • 433 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The movie and play productions of “The Glass Menagerie” tell very different stories. The play tells a story of a family with no father – emphasis on no father – that can’t seem to be nice or truthful to one another. The movie tries to tell a similar story but they avoid mention of the father as much as possible. In the beginning of the movie Tom’s opening words are cut out, negating the fact that the entire story is Tom’s memory of what happened.…

    • 690 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Symbolism is used many times throughout literature but many people are using symbolism incorrectly. They are expecting it to only hold one meaning, well they're wrong. Set in California near the Salinas River during The Great Depression, the novel begins when two grown men come looking in search of new jobs on a ranch. In Thomas C. Foster’s How to Read Literature Like a Professor and John Steinbeck’s novel, Of Mice and Men, both the authors use symbolism to show that it is related to an action or event experienced through individuals imaginations with a possible range of meanings and interpretations. In chapter 12 of Foster’s text, he uses caves and rivers as symbols of various interpretation and meanings that can only be understood using the tools, such as; questions, experiences, history, pre…

    • 1073 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    A prominent symbol found is this idea of a glass castle. The glass castle represents something beautiful and magical. Which is something Jeannette and her father Rex desire to reflect in their lives. This example of symbolism is apparent through this quote. "Never did build that glass castle, No, but we had fun planning it".…

    • 1026 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “The Glass Menagerie”, “Death of a Salesman”, and “A Raisin in the Sun” all reflect the human experience. The human experience in this case involves American families during the 30’s, 40’s and 50’s that are co-dependent on each other throughout the economic and social struggles of their time. The families’ struggles transcend their time periods; people empathize with them now and will continue to do so long into the future. The stories depict experiences that feel very real and that people can relate to in their own lives. Economic hardship and dreams of a better future are common themes in these plays.…

    • 1062 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Both of these women are very strong characters. A Streetcar Named Desire is entirely focused on Blanche and her delusions. Towards the end of The Glass Menagerie, Amanda reverts back to being the most popular girl in Blue Mountain. She is also assuming that the gentleman caller will take on look at Laura and want to marry her, thus securing Amanda and Laura’s future. Both of these women characters are very strong.…

    • 1074 Words
    • 5 Pages
    • 4 Works Cited
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Have there been that one or two people that affected your life in one way or another, and do you remember that story in your life? Well “The Glass Menagerie” written by Tennessee Williams in 1944 is a tale with many stories that are ties by family. The setting is the key to each one. The characters are also each independently living in a tale of their own even thought they are related. The time period is also a key to the story in the play.…

    • 745 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    This passage is about the Walls family getting kicked out of Erma’s place so they go and buy a run down house for them to live in then fix it up so it’s more suitable to live in. Some would say that it’s what some has that would keep you going, but in this passage Jeannette Walls conveys an idea that it’s the intangible possessions that can really keep you going. The author helps convey this idea through the use of symbolism. This is a passage from Jeannette Wall’s memoir, The Glass Castle.…

    • 651 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In novel the glass castle the Glass Castle written by Jeannette Walls, has a powerful meaning. While reading the novel it had some intense scenes and made you question everything. I believe the meaning and theme behind the title of novel is hope. As Rex, the father of the novel promises his daughter Jeannette, that he would build her own glass castle when he finds the money for it later in the novel. Jeannette didn’t want to lose hope her in father and believed that he was going keep his promise (“ I would never lose faith in him.…

    • 498 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    As a slight cripple, she shies away from the world, hiding among glass unicorns and other figurines, and listening to her phonograph records. The real world unnerves her, deeming her unable to even handle typing class at Rubicam’s Business College. She couldn’t even type from nerves, her hands jittering across the keys. And when she tried to take her speed typing test, she vomited on the floor, and almost had to be carried to the washroom. While she was supposed to be in class, Laura simply wandered through parks and visited animals at the zoo, or the local conservatory, slipping even further from reality.…

    • 1065 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    “Curiouser and curiouser!” is the exclamation Alice cries out as she witnesses the absurdities of Wonderland, a magical and frightening, dream world (Carroll 8). It is a statement all readers can certainly agree with as Alice makes her way through a plethora of different, but equally disturbing settings. Her journey begins simply enough at the bank of a river with her sister, when out of the blue, a white, clothed, talking* rabbit hops past her. Alice hastily follows it right into an unreasonably deep rabbit hole, where she plummets for such an extensive period of time, she begins to doze off. “. . .…

    • 1093 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Glass Menagerie is a tragic play where the dreams of the characters are put on the line. Characters are faced with choices that will have a huge impact on those around them. They enter a power struggle in order to realize their ambitions with their differing personalities playing a important role in how they negotiate their ambitions with each other. For us to understand the severity of choices that have to be made, we need to look into the major event occurring during this time period that the play takes place: The Great Depression. Tennessee Williams goes into great detail on each character’s personalities and mannerisms before the play even begins.…

    • 935 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Firstly, the author uses the symbol to prove the theme by having the stallholder telling Tristan about the glass flower. One day on a market day, a glass flower caught Tristan’s eyes and he went forward to ask the origin of this glass flower. The stallholder responded with, “On the side of mount Calamon a grove of glass flowers grows. The journey there is perilous, and the journey back is more so” (Gaiman 8). This is significant because this glass flower symbolizes and foreshadows Tristan’s journey.…

    • 1009 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In Tennessee William’s 1945 play, “The Glass Menagerie” we are provided with many stage directions that help the audience understand the plays important aspects of the setting, as well as its central idea. The narrator and protagonist Tom Wingfield, takes the audience on a journey to a past memory of his life with his mother Amanda Wingfield, sister Laura Wingfield, and Jim O’Conner. In the play we are introduced to memory set in the city of St. Louis were Amanda yearns for her daughter Laura, who is disabled, to find a suitor. Tom invites the audience into his version of The Glass Menagerie.…

    • 510 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays